How did you hear about FIRST and WHY did you get involved?

[VIAIR_Ryan]

Hey FRC participants,

I doubt many people will see this post since the competition is over so there's no reason to be on here...unless you're preparing for another tournament. In any case, my name is Ryan Shaw with VIAIR. We make the compressors selected by FIRST. Last year I was invited to the supplier summit where I got to meet Kate and Collin with FIRSTRC, Andy Baker with AndyMark and a few other suppliers...And I got to check out Dean Kamen's awesome pad. No biggie.

After finding out what FRC is all about, I wrote a lengthy e-mail to the owner of VIAIR proposing that we donate to help FIRST. He approved the request and now we're trying to make videos to promote FIRST to high school students that aren't already a part of FIRST.
Here's a link to our current video:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dYBLKCUWxBs
To be honest, I don't know if the video does a good job of teaching NON-FIRST high-school students what FIRST is all about. I fear that it might come off as too technical to the NON-First student.

That's why I'm here...I'd like to ask you how you guys got involved.

How did you hear about FIRST?
What made you decide to join?
What attracted you to the FRC team?

Please respond here or send me your story at ryans@viaircorp.com.
I'm hoping that we can make a video that resonates with non-first students and help reel them in to the program!

I apologize if this post is not in the correct section. Please feel free to move it as needed.

Thanks,
Ryan Shaw

Hello Ryan. Thanks a bunch to you and VIAIR for your support of FIRST! We really appreciate not only the great compressors you've made that we use, but also your drive to promote what we do to the outside world. It really means a lot.

I heard about FIRST about 10 years ago back in Elementary school when my friend wanted to start an FLL team. I had no real fascination with robots or building at the time, but I was a little kid and did things with friends, so I figured why not. After 6 years of FLL I moved onto my High School's FRC team since I was no longer allowed to compete in FLL but still wanted to do something similar. 4 years later I've never looked back.

As for the video, I love the current one, but I do agree that anyone who is not already involved in the program may get a little bit confused. One thing I noticed is there is a lot about this year's game, Aerial Assist, and all of the students talk in specifics regarding the 2014 game. So to a non-FIRSTer, it appears as if that's all we do every year. I think showing various competition years and being more general on the games and focusing on the generalities of FIRST would make more sense to an outsider. Also, The technical talk means nothing to most people who are new to the program. Have people talk more about what FIRST is and what they've gotten from the program. I'm sure both you and your marketing team already know this, but for the sake of anyone else reading this post, a big point about any promotion of this kind is being to the point in telling the viewers what they get from it. Why should they spend their time/money on this? We know how great FIRST is, but they don't, and you need to tell them what they get out of it as well as show how exciting it is. The perfect promotion is a well-planned mixture of communicating what the thing is and what the people get from it all while making it exciting and attention-grabbing at the same time. Do that, and its golden.

[Oblarg]

I joined 449 on a whim, as I had no after-school activity at the time and a couple of my friends were on the team and said it was pretty cool.

At the time I joined, I had no idea what FIRST was or even that it was a team rather than a club, as they were doing a VEX-based preseason project. I first learned about the actual competition a couple days before kickoff.

Seven years later, I think it was a pretty fortunate choice.

[SkittlesCharge]

I took 537's summer school class during the summer between middle school and high school. During the course (for which I am now the lead teaching assistant), I learned about FRC and I realized that I greatly enjoyed solving engineering challenges. I naturally joined Team 537 my freshman year of high school and never looked back.

[safiq10]

Hello Ryan! Big thanks to you and VIAR for your outstanding efforts! We greatly appreciate your effort in everything you do.

I joined FLL originally because I was recruited through my Computer teacher. I joined the team because I thought it would be an interesting experience. When I joined the team I was placed on a team of 8th graders and FLL wasnt very fun. But when we went to the competition I saw an FRC robot demoing its abilities and I had one of the students explain it to 6th grade me.
I was inspired and I promised myself I would one day compete in FRC. So I stayed in FLL and moved onto FTC now 4 years later I am the Head captain of our team and I know I will become a Mentor for some team later on in my life. All because of that one team that took the time to explain what they do.

[Rockwind79]

Thanks for joining FIRST. A ton of teams love using your compressor, they are so much better than the old one!!

I started out in FIRST 5 years ago now. My old high school had a robotics(FRC Team 79 Krunch) team that help start the engineering academy there about 3 years before I got there . I joined my freshman year just through hearing about the team around the school and what not.I wasn't that involved through the build season that year(2010 season). I was thinking about quitting the team, that was till I want to the Orlando Regional. That event, best regional ever, with the energy and excitement is what got me to stay in FIRST and does some awesome things as a student. As they say the rest is history. I am now at college and mentor FRC Team 2996. I would not want to change a day I have been a part of this organization, it stands for some great things.

As cool as building a robot in six weeks is, FIRST goes so much deeper. The bonds you make, the people you meet, the stuff you get to do and what you get to learn about! It just impacts so many peoples lives in so many different ways, that is what people need to see about FIRST to get them in. Or just see an event happen and they will be drawn in, I know I was. Hope this can help!

[David8696]

Originally Posted by VIAIR_Ryan

Hey FRC participants,

I doubt many people will see this post since the competition is over so there's no reason to be on here...

Dude. Why do you think I'm here? The competition is over, I have no other FIRST-related activities to pursue–WHAT ELSE AM I GOING TO DO WITH MY LIFE BUT BROWSE CHIEF DELPHI UNTIL JANUARY????

[Tamster]

Hello Ryan,

I found out about FIRST in middle school from my friend and her older sister, who was on a robotics team. My friend had already gotten me into robotics - she had me at "build cool robots" - so I decided to look into it; after asking her sister about it, I decided that I wanted to be involved with FIRST robotics.

When I went to high school, I knew I had to join the team. I was attracted by the team's energy and how they all seemed to be one big family, and their cool-looking robot was the icing on the cake. Also, the competition itself drew me in - nothing captivated me more than being surrounded by different robots. The more I went to robotics, the more I was hooked. I just loved building and designing robots, and it was a great learning experience for me. I find that, by joining FRC, I have boosted my self-confidence, gained hands-on experience, and had a lot of fun. At this point, FRC is a way of life for me, and I don't regret joining robotics for one moment.

I hope this helps

[belle94]

In Grade 8, I was new at my school and there was a girl in my homeroom that I wanted to be friends with. She was doing FLL, so I decided to do it too. When I got to high school, I joined our FRC team because it seemed like the natural next step. It wasn't that I was super passionate about it (yet); it just never occurred to me to stop doing robotics. I got hooked that first year and the rest is history (and that girl is still one of my best friends).

I agree with the others about the video: it's a little too specific if you're trying to recruit people. You could bring in some testimonials from people on FLL and FTC teams and maybe even some alums, to see what impact FIRST has had on them.

[scca229]

My involvement in FIRST started with my "little brother" (he is 21 years younger than me and I've been looking up at him for a few years now) calling me every few days for a few weeks back in January 2011 for "network issues" related to getting a laptop to talk to a "micro controller" of some sort along with other "networking problems". I had absolutely no idea what it was he was trying to do but I seemed to have provided the right answers to get them connected and talking to each other.

A few months later he called me to tell me that he was coming down from Kingman, AZ to Phoenix for a competition and that I really needed to go check it out if I could make it. I still didn't know what the heck he was talking about, but what hay, since it was at a local high school about 5 minutes off of my route to/from work, I swung by. Holy crap I was hooked as soon as I walked in the gym and saw what was going on (would have been after lunch on Friday). Once I found his team (60 - The Bionic Bulldogs from Kingman, AZ), I sat him down and made him explain exactly what it was that I was watching (Logomotion was the game that year). The next year I was officially booked on as a long-distance mentor helping out with anything I could do from 250 miles away.

I was Volun-told as an FTAA to help out with the 2013 Arizona Regional due to the field network problems that had cropped up earlier in the season (I'm a Network Engineer). I had an absolute blast working with the FTA, Mark McLeod, and he taught me a huge amount of what an FTA does along with the FMS itself.

I was again Volun-told as an FTAA at the 2013 Las Vegas Regional 2 weeks later due to field electronics not behaving on Thursday morning when teams were just about to be let into the building. Since I had just worked with the field in Phoenix, I was able to step in and connect everything together while the FTA dealt with other issues of field setup that couldn't be resolved the night before. I again learned an amazing amount of stuff from the event FTA along with other FTAs that were present.

I knew then that I needed to figure out how to become an FTA...and so did my wife as she says that even though I was coming home totally exhausted from these events, I hadn't looked happier in a LONG time. This year I was invited into the program, but not selected for an event, so didn't go to the training...fingers crossed for next year though with some Regionals being added, including in Arizona. Instead I did Robot Inspection at the 2014 Arizona Regional which I found very helpful in understanding the robots more from more than just my own mentored team as well as helped at the field when not needed for inspections and to keep an eye on robots needing to be looked at again. I was also the FTAA at the 2014 Las Vegas Regional which reaffirmed my desire to go further in the program (I'm sure there is plenty of video of me running all around that field trying to figure out why a bot went link-dead).

I so wish that this program was around when I was in high school...or at least in Southern California at the time. My high school would have been all over it as we were always looking for ways to use the technology grant money given by the local university.

Nate

[Chief Hedgehog]

Hey Ryan,

Welcome to CD! I doubt that you will find another online community as dedicated to it's 'pasttime' than those of us from the FRC community.

It is awesome to see one of our supporters/suppliers actively engaged in this sport.

For my story - here it is:
It was a long, winding road for me to become apart of FRC. As a college student at UW Stout and St Cloud State University in the late '90's and early '00's I heard some rumblings about a robotics program. At that time I was young, had other interests, and FRC was not a part of the WI/MN structure. The only program that was anything near FRC in these parts was the HMV Challenge at UW Stout and BRI. It was entertaining - but not my cup of tea at the moment.

Fast forward 12+ years - I have been teaching at my alma mater for some time. I have been a coach in our very successful Wrestling Program and I have helped to build our Soccer program from the ground up at Becker.

Because of my Coaching and Educational background, my AP asked me if I would be interested in a robotics program. No doubt this is what my school was missing. My department does a great job providing the local industries and Tech colleges with many students interested in the skills - maybe we should engage the other students. So I signed on.

He (my AP) promised me that it was only a 6 week job - and I could continue coaching Soccer and Wrestling - no problem.

So we scheduled a van a took 8 students to the MPLS regionals in 2012 (RR). We were hooked. The whole way back to Becker was talk of what we could do. How we build a robot. The intricacies of RISK (Australia)...

6 weeks - HAH! The first year it became a 6 month program - so I left my duties as a Wrestling coach. 2 years in and I am contemplating leaving my post as the Varsity Soccer coach. A program that I built from nothing. This is what FRC means to me. I have seen such great end results from the kids of my robotics team - things that I never saw from my years as a 'traditional' coach - I am about to leave a program that I love and built to focus on a new venture in FRC.

Now we are a solid program with 2 years under our belt. This season we have been piloting our future drive trains. We had a great rookie season that was followed up by a sub-par sophomore season (finishing in the quarterfinals at North Star and an invitation to the MSHSL Tournament); not a slump by most teams' standards - but it has been for us.

We have used your VIAIR pump and have been successful with it. We hope that VIAIR continues it's support of FRC in the future!

This is my story of what FRC has done for me.

[DJB11]

When I moved to Mount Olive back in 2002, Parents told me the HS had a robotics program. Joined FLL in fifth grade, then joined our robotics team last year.

[Koko Ed]

How did you hear about FIRST?Ironically through my ex-wife.
What made you decide to join?It was an opportunity to work with the animation program.
What attracted you to the FRC team?It was through the school my ex wife worked at and it looked like something we could do together. In the end I stayed with the team and she didn't.

[S.P.A.M.er]

How did you hear about FIRST? I heard about FIRST 10 years ago through my elementary school gifted program. I was in third grade at the time and our 4/5th grade gifted teacher was seeing if there was any interest in starting an FLL team that would participate at the FRC Team 180 S.P.A.M. FLL Qualifying tournament. The teacher's husband was ironically both the engineering teacher at my future HS as well as a Teacher-Mentor for S.P.A.M.
What made you decide to join? I joined FLL because my mom was an engineer with Florida Power and Light (FPL) as well as the entire gifted class I was in (same 12 kids I had been with since Kindergarten) had all decided to join the team. We did everything together and the team survived until we hit 6th grade when we were no longer able to be on the Elementary school team due to district policy. From 6-8th grade I would go with my friend Frannie Pawlak (the amazing artist on S.P.A.M.) to the FRC tournaments and always knew I wanted to join. I joined in summer 2011 after making the mistake of playing a varsity sport I love on a team who wanted nothing to do with me. My time on FRC 180 has been the best times of my life, as I've been able to become a better speaker and more confident in what I do. I feel that FIRST provided me with the skills I needed to become a good Army Engineer before even going to AIT, as well as helping to secure me a full scholarship to college. FIRST and SPAM are going to be a part of my life forever, I'll be mentoring/starting teams across the globe wherever my career may take me.

[Libby K]

One might think my answers are pretty obvious, but here goes:

How did you hear about FIRST?: Okay, this is the easy one. I started being brought along to FIRST events in 1992 as an infant. I never really 'heard about FIRST' as a new thing, it was just always a part of my life. It wasn't until I was maybe 6/7/8 that I really started to understand the program or the robots, but I've just always been around FIRST to watch it grow.

What made you decide to join?: In the Epcot days of the World Championship (side: it hasn't been Nationals since I was a kid, please for the love of god, people, stop calling it Nationals), there were far fewer rules about kid volunteers. At around 6, I started doing field reset. I got a really good look at the robots, and eventually I would just wander around and ask teams about their robots on my breaks. My dad was a judge, so sometimes when he needed to go do his own thing, he'd stick me with one of the teams he knew, and they'd take me in. I'd get to learn about their robots and even 'help' repair them - more like 'hey kid, hold this part real quick', but still - I was hooked. I knew I wanted a team of my own when I got to high school.

What attracted you to the FRC team?: The year I started organizing for 1923, FTC (then FVC) was still in the 'pilot program' stage, so it wasn't like there was much of a choice. I knew I wanted to play with the big robots, so FRC1923 was registered in the fall of my 9th grade year.

Welcome to Chief, Ryan! Thanks for collecting our stories. I'm sure you can also find some more stories by asking marketing@usfirst.org - they have also collected some great ones across all the programs, from students, mentors and volunteers alike.